This is the first book that I have read written by Nicole Trope. I am only a prologue and one chapter in, and I am already intrigued.

The story opens being written through the eyes of Alice, who clearly had a troubled childhood. She is now the mother of three boys, living an apparently settled life in suburban Australia.

As the novel moves on alternating chapters written in the voice of Molly and Margaret appear. Some set back in time to 1987. All of the characters are carefully crafted and I like the way that apparently disconnected aspects of the narrative are developing.

I need to be careful about spoiling the book for other readers. Suffice to say that several characters have something in their past of which they are not proud.

Although I found much of the subject matter very disturbing, I was impressed by the way in which Nicole Trope developed the story. Each time something is revealed it opens up yet another mystery.

There are a few exciting twists and turns in the plot as the story unravels.

On the strength of this novel I will look out for earlier and future books by this author.

I give my thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for a copy in exchange for this review.

a heart rendering story with a happy ending. At first I was a bit lost but once I realised that the characters were all being introduced I found myself engrossed in this story of abuse and utter despair. How children can love through the ordeal of abuse and still have the energy and self worth to become caring, loving adults with so much to give is beyond me. This is a story of fear, despair, strength and survival, who am sure you will enjoy. I give it 3.5

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4 stars
The Nowhere Girl
Nicole Trope
Publication date 1/28/20

The Nowhere Girl is a heart wrenching story of growing up in a very abusive environment. Alice is the big sister basically raising her little sister Lily. The house is filled with dysfunction, secrets and squalor. My heart broke for these two little girls and all they endured. This story follows 3 women Alice, Margaret and Molly from 1987 - present day.. You learn about how complex each character is and how they came to be who they are today. Told from different points of view this story unravels. There are many secrets that unfold and many twists and turns. This emotional story was hard to put down and while it was heartbreaking it had some heartwarming elements too.

Thank you the Netgalley and Bookouture for providing me the ARC for my honest review of The Nowhere Girl.

Instagram https://instagram.com/donnasnotsosecretbookdiary

Twitter @donna64619247

Before I even begin my review – please, please, please be aware of some serious potential triggers involving poor parenting (putting it lightly), domestic violence and child abuse (sexual, physical, and emotional).

The Nowhere Girl is told from three different POV: Alice, Molly, and Margaret. Alice is married to Jack and has three sons. She loves her children and her husband and her basically happy life. However, Alice suffered unimaginable abuse as a child and still struggles. Molly is happily married to Peter and has a very close relationship with her parents and her sister. She is a writer currently writing a book about abused children and desperately wants her own child despite multiple miscarriages. Margaret’s POV is mostly told in the past tense. She meets a man and falls in love, gets married, has a child, and so on. However, her life suddenly changes and she finds herself on a downward spiral complete with severe alcoholism and an abusive partner, Vernon.

This is my first time reading anything by Nicole Trope and it was a page-turner for me. The characters were raw and honest. Her imagery is so strong that there were times I felt as if I could smell what they were smelling and feel the sensations they were experiencing. Which, in a book this creepy isn’t always a good thing, yet I am still blown away by her descriptions. I think the picture she painted of Vernon’s physical appearance and odors will stay with me (unfortunately) for quite a while after reading this novel.

A good portion of this novel is a slow reveal of details about Alice, Molly, and Margaret and what has happened in their lives. It’s definitely a slow-burn as far as suspense/thrillers go, which at times felt over-written and slow. Listed as 322 pages I can’t help but wonder if it would have been as good or better if cut to 275? But I still really enjoyed this read and definitely recommend it with caveats.

Maybe something is wrong with me, but I didn’t really need the Kleenex until about the last 10-15% of the novel and they were mainly happy tears but mixed with regrets for Alice and Molly. However, I can see someone easily crying for about 75-80% of this novel because the plot and subject matter is so difficult. I, personally, was brought into this world with a very shitty mother whose picture you would probably see if you looked up “emotional abuse” in the dictionary, yet I still enjoyed this book and it held my interest. But the abuse scenes are very difficult and your stomach will turn, no matter who you are and what your life has been like.

The Nowhere Girl is hard at times and you will definitely feel emotionally taxed at the end, but it’s well-written and a great example of good psychological fiction. Again, the stand-out for me in this novel is the characters, how Nicole Trope made them come to life, and the imagery. Alice will forever be my hero for enduring what she did and carrying on with her life. She is certainly a character that I will not forget.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing this review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

The themes of domestic and child abuse will undoubtedly trigger some readers but push through, and you’ll find a stunning, unflinching look at how resilience and love can overcome even the direst of situations. The author does a fantastic job of capturing a wide range of thoughts and feelings as long-hidden family secrets come to light. The characters were well-developed and the plot, although difficult to read at times, was tight and thought-provoking. I certainly recommend this book. For a full review, please visit my blog at Fireflies and Free Kicks. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for a digital ARC of the book.

This book was very predictable and repetitive. I just wanted it to be over. The book dealt with sexual abuse, alcoholism, secrets, domestic violence , Alzheimer’s, miscarriages, adoption and sisterly love. The bond between the sisters was the saving grace in this depressing book. The three main female characters were strong figures . Book just came together too perfectly .

Wow this an incredibly tense read. The story revolves around three women Alice, Molly and Margaret, and their sometimes harrowing stories.

The book moves between the three narrators and their individual timelines. Alice is the normal over protective mother or is there more to it? She worries that someone knows how she let her sister down, how she suffered because of her.

Molly is desperate for a child, and as we learn more about her we find out her tragic past. Her pain fills the pages, as she struggles with her desire for a child.

Margaret shares a different kind of story, hers is one full of regret and shows that even the most hard people, have a different side to them. A reason for their behaviour, not that this is an excuse.

I really recommend this read as although it may be hard going at times, it also shows that there is always hope and that some people have the strength to push through and away from their past.

It may contain triggers for some readers.

A gripping story of two women, Alice and Molly.
Alice is happily married with three children despite escaping an abusive and sad childhood. Molly is writing a book about abused children despite having an idyllic childhood. When these women cross paths Alices last returns to haunt her. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the arc.

Gut wrenching and heartbreaking family drama. This was not an easy read due to the subject matter but it was done well and credibly. There are three perspectives as well as current and past chapters. Once you nail everyone down the story really takes off.

Wow, that about sums up this book. Gripping from page one, heart wrenching start to finish and the most climactic ending you can imagine. This book is so well written and the characters are very well developed and believable. There are so many twists and turns in this book I’m scared to comment to much as I don’t want to give anything away in this review.
Trigger warning, this book delves deep into Child abuse and neglect, it is done tastefully and it is so relevant to the telling of this story but it was hard to read at points. This book was so good I read it in one sitting and immediately purchased this authors other books.
This one is a MUST read!

This was a very emotional tale of a dysfunctional family a missing sister and the horrors of family life that some women and children have to endure. It covers everything from emotional abuse, child abuse both psychological and sexual, domestic violence and rape, alcohol abuse, miscarriage and murder but there are good components too - unconditional love and all that comes with being part of a loving supportive family.

Overall I found Alice's story to be terribly sad, I could feel how wretched her life was, the fear and the hopelessness she felt, I cried for her, knowing that there are children actually living her life so, so sad.
Each character was very well described and developed. A book is so enjoyable when you can almost see it in your minds eye.... And this is exactly what the author did, she brought all the characters to life.

This was an emotional journey i wanted to shake Margaret and make her choose her children first! I am still left thinking about Alice the child, this book will stay with me for a long time.

Well written, emotional and a very good read. Thank you Netgalley, Bookouture and Nicole Trope for giving me the chance to read an advance copy of this book.

EXCERPT: 'I know what you did.'

My whole body shakes. I cannot let this go on. I need to talk to Jack and the Police. I pick up my phone but then I immediately end the call. It's my fault she was there.

'Alice did a terrible thing. Alice did a horrible thing. It's all Alice's fault.'

I drop my head in my hands. 'But I didn't mean to,' I say. I didn't mean to. I was trying to help. I was trying to help. Please, I didn't mean to.' I don't know who I'm pleading with.

I stare at the email, and then I type:

'What do you want?'

Maybe this will mean a request for money or something tangible. While I wait, I check my blog but there are no new messages.

Finally, my inbox pings.

'I want everything you have, Alice. Everything.'

ABOUT THIS BOOK: If you passed Alice on the street, you couldn’t help but smile. At how she holds hands with her husband, Jack, who she has been with since she was at university. At the way she admires her three boys, the centre of her universe.

But if you looked very closely, you’d see how tightly she holds Jack’s hand, afraid to let go. You’d see how carefully she watches her boys, scared to look away. You’d see her smile fading in a matter of seconds, and the pain she hides behind her eyes.

She has told Jack that she ran away from home when she was younger – but she didn’t tell him the whole story. Her husband doesn’t know about the guilt she bears about her little sister she failed to save.

Now, after a lifetime of fresh starts, Alice can feel her past playing catch-up. She is sure she is being watched, certain she is being followed. She may not be able to stop her secret coming out – but can she stop the world she has lovingly built collapsing in on her?

MY THOUGHTS: 'We frighten children with stories of monsters like vampires and werewolves but sometimes the real monsters live in your house.'

I don't know how many times I had to put this book down and walk away from it. My eyes would be stinging with tears, my body rigid with fury. I would have to walk away and breathe, just breathe, until I got myself under control.

The Nowhere Girl by Nicole Trope is an extremely emotional read. Even though I have read and loved many of her other books, nothing prepared me for the emotional onslaught I felt reading this. The neglect, the cruelty, the abuse. Trope has detailed it all. Not graphically, but still.....you know. And once you know, you can't unknow.

Trope has written a heartbreaking story of a family beset by tragedy and a mother's depression that leads her places she would never have chosen to go. Told from three perspectives: that of Margaret, the mother; Alice, her eldest daughter; and Molly, the author of a book on abused children, The Nowhere Girl is going to test you. it covers the topics of alcoholism and infertility as well as child abuse. All I can say is 'Stick with it.' It is not a book to enjoy. It is a book written to make us aware, and it certainly does that. And even though I had to put it down and walk away several times, there is no way I could have not finished this amazing read.

If any book deserves a happy ending, this is it. Does it have one? I recommend you read it and find out.

*****

#TheNowhereGirl #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: Nicole Trope went to university to study Law but realised the error of her ways when she did very badly on her first law essay because-as her professor pointed out- ‘It’s not meant to be a story.’ She studied teaching instead and used her holidays to work on her writing career and complete a Masters’ degree in Children’s Literature. After the birth of her first child she stayed home full time to write and raise children, renovate houses and build a business with her husband.
The idea for her first published novel, The Boy under the Table, was so scary that it took a year for her to find the courage to write the emotional story. Her second novel, Three Hours Late, was voted one of Fifty Books you can’t put down in 2013 and her third novel, The Secrets in Silence, was The Australian Woman’s Weekly Book of the month for June 2014.
She lives in Sydney with her husband and three children.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Bookouture via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of The Nowhere Girl by Nicole Trope for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page, or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review an others are also published on Twitter, Amazon and my webpage.

First, I want to thank Nicole Trope, Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with this book so I may bring you this review.

Must Read Book of 2020! Nicole Trope’s Nowhere Girl covered some tough subjects like no other author has before! She makes it into an incredible storyline with so many twists and turns and some very shocking moments.

Nowhere Girl drew me into the story right from the first sentence of the story. How could you not fall for little Molly!

I loved this book for the suspenseful mystery and the very unique storyline. However, this book may not be everyone’s cup of tea for the subject matter.

Nicole mentions in the book and I agree with her that authors put out the same themes to books many times. Especially when it comes to writing about woman. Many ideas and issues in books revolve around domestic violence and child abuse. Why? Because society has not gotten it right yet.

She is incredibly passionate about this issue and it comes out in the characters and their behaviors. Some scenes I wondered how she stomached as they were a little graphic.

This book went from present day and the past to give you the back story
.
I loved how Nicole thanked her mother, Hilary, for being her first reader and for reading her books with a fresh eye.

Alice loves her husband & her three sons. She wants to do all she can to make sure they are kept safe & never have to put up with the terrible things she went through as a child. Although her husband knows some of what she went through he doesn't know it all, he doesn't know she is haunted by the memory of her little sister & her guilt that she had been unable to save her. But now she is getting messages that someone knows what she did.

Molly had a happy childhood, growing up secure with her sister Lexie. After numerous miscarriages she is pregnant again & terrified she will be devastated yet again. She is writing a book about abused children. As she reads harrowing stores online she is haunted by the vague memory of being shut in a cupboard- but that never happened.

The story is told by three women Molly, Alice & Margaret (Alice's mother) Each person's account holds the attention. This dealt with some very difficult subjects & was not always easy reading but it is a story that will stay with me for a long time.

Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this great book.

I will not think about it anymore. I won’t think about her. My lost little sister with her beautiful smile, her chestnut-coloured eyes. My sister who I couldn’t protect.

If you passed Alice on the street, you couldn’t help but smile. At how she holds hands with her husband, Jack, who she has been with since she was at university. At the way she admires her three boys, the centre of her universe.

But if you looked very closely, you’d see how tightly she holds Jack’s hand, afraid to let go. You’d see how carefully she watches her boys, scared to look away. You’d see her smile fading in a matter of seconds, and the pain she hides behind her eyes.

She has told Jack that she ran away from home when she was younger – but she didn’t tell him the whole story. Her husband doesn’t know about the guilt she bears about her little sister she failed to save.

Now, after a lifetime of fresh starts, Alice can feel her past playing catch-up. She is sure she is being watched, certain she is being followed. She may not be able to stop her secret coming out – but can she stop the world she has lovingly built collapsing in on her?

****

This is my third book of Nicole's that I have read and despite it being so harrowing and desperately sad, I really really enjoyed it.

Nicole writes with such grace and understanding and really drags you into the heart of the story, so you quite often feel exhausted when you've finished.

Highly recommended.

The Nowhere Girl is an absolute masterpiece! Gripping and thrilling, it is in a class of its own. Though quite difficult to read because of some of the content, it is still an extremely compelling story.

Containing themes of domestic violence, child abuse, addiction and neglect, Nicole Trope's characterisation continues to impress and the trauma suffered felt very real, especially regarding Alice, the sister who never stopped reliving her childhood experiences. The Nowhere Girl is also a story about strength, courage, and survival. The story moves comprehensibly between dual timelines, from the 1980's to the present day, to recount the stories of three women, Alice, Margaret and Molly and how tragic events that occurred thirty years ago permanently changed their lives.

I found The Nowhere Girl to be very well researched and it came across as believable. Nicole Trope is a master of this type of domestic thriller and I loved the way the author slowly meted out the clues and built up the suspense until the plot reached the dramatic denouement. There was such a lot happening that I found this deftly told, stark and poignant novel really difficult to put down. I’d certainly read more from this talented author. Highly recommended and well worth five stars.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel, at my request, from Bookouture via NetGalley and this review is my own unbiased opinion.

This was a beautiful story, at times heartbreaking and other times thrilling and suspenseful. The main characters, Alice and Molly were well defined. I liked the way the story unfolded, giving glimpses of past and present to bring the story all together with a shocking and thrilling ending! I appreciated the way Nicole Trope covers the horrors of child abuse, but without all the gory detail that some authors use for shock value. There were some unexpected twists that were thrown into this emotional mix of tragedy and triumph that brought this story to life for me.

Alice has an adoring husband, cherished sons, a beautiful home – picture perfect. What you can’t see in the freeze frame, are the constant companions – terrible shadows from her past. Alice has shared most of what she suffered growing up, with her husband Jack. But she carries a deep and disturbing secret that she cannot bear to tell. Out of the blue, ominous emails from a mysterious sender, threaten to expose her darkest nightmare.

Molly grew up with loving parents and a sister who is her best friend. Now happily married, all that seems to be missing, is the baby she desperately wants. Researching stories of abuse for a freelance project, Molly finds a blog and reads a post that for some reason stays with her, hauntingly and eerily.

Margaret, meek and docile, has not seen much love or happiness in her life. Tragedy and loss hit her too young and too entirely, and she easily slips into an alcohol-filled, brittle, pitiful existence.

And…Margaret is the connection that will irrevocably link the lives of Alice and Molly, propelling them to an emotional, explosive, head-on life collision.

A heavy storyline of domestic abuse, child rape, alcoholism. Apart from Margaret, who I found unbearable - and try as I might, could not find it in myself to pity her for a second - I feel the author focused more on the victim recovery, rather than the subject matter, and I commend her delivery on such delicate issues.

The Nowhere Girl is a compelling, solid, emotion-invoking read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for Nicole Trope’s read of The Nowhere Girl.

Opinions expressed in my reviews are my own.

This book was a difficult read and for one reason is the child abuse and rape. It was told from the point of 3 women, 2 in the present, 1 in the past and from the very beginning their stories are extremely predictable. This was a slow read and with the predictability and raw subject it was like pulling teeth to finish it.

This wasn’t an easy book to read. With themes of abuse, addiction and neglect it is a heartbreaking story that told of the evil that lurks inside some people and the lasting repercussions their terrible actions have on their victims. But it was also a story about courage, survival and strength. The story moves seamlessly between the dual timelines to tell the stories of three women and how tragic events that occurred thirty years ago changed their lives forever. 

The three narrators were complex, fractured and tragically real. I liked Alice and admired her strength, how she'd managed to build a happy family instead of repeating her mother's mistakes. Reading what she went through as a child was devastating and I admired her for still visiting her ailing mother despite the agony it caused her and felt a deep sense of injustice for the fact she would never get the acknowledgement or apology she deserved. Molly was a likeable character and the one I related to most of all, having suffered a similar pain in trying to have children myself. It seemed immediately obvious who Molly was, and my heart hurt for what was to come when she ultimately learned the truth of her birth and dreadful past. I found myself on edge when reading her chapters because I was anticipating it happening and scared she would face another tragedy with this pregnancy. Margaret was certainly not a likeable character but I liked the author’s decision to give her a voice. It meant that instead of simply being an evil villain we see the nuance to her character, see the broken and weak woman inside and learn why she ended up the way she did. Her story is tragic and I definitely had mixed feelings about her. While there was some empathy for what she’d gone through as a child and the devastating loss of her husband, I couldn’t shake my anger at what she allowed to happen to her own children: her nonchalance at their existence and focus on her own pain being eased. I wanted to scream at her to stop being so bloody weak and protect her children. Her story highlighted how addiction ravages more than just the person addicted. I think she was let down by the system as well as her children, as if the authorities had noticed what was happening to the kids, they would have seen what was happening to her too. With help all of them could have had a very different life. 

This was the first time I have read a book by this author and I will definitely be reading more. She wrote about a multitude of tragic and difficult subjects and every one was written with skillful sensitivity. She portrayed the character's pain vividly and made them all so real it was easy to forget I was reading a work of fiction rather than a harrowing true story. The story started slowly, steadily picking up pace until it was so tense and compelling that I couldn't tear myself away. 

The Nowhere Girl is a deftly told, stark and poignant novel. Despite its bleak themes it is also a hopeful story of forgiveness and the healing power of love. It is a powerful and emotional story that I would recommend. 

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.